Bed Bath & Beyond will be shutting all of its stores in Canada as the retail chain has been operating at a net loss for years. This includes 54 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 11 buybuy Baby stores across the country, resulting in 387 full-time and 1038 part-time employees losing their jobs. According to court documents from a hearing on February 10th, “The Bed Bath & Beyond Group has been in financial difficulty for a number of years, suffering significant net losses since 2018.”
The U.S. parent company, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., has also seen a sharp decline and cannot support Canadian operations any further. The U.S. company announced the closing of more than 200 stores in 2023, but also raised almost $1 billion through offerings of preferred stocks and warrants to be used towards its debts. The company is urging customers to use their gift cards by February 25th, and after that date is not obligated to fulfill them, though they have the right to.
Last year, the number of Canadian businesses that became insolvent increased by 37.2 percent, with 3,402 insolvencies in 2022 compared to 2,480 in 2021. This is after years of decline in the number of insolvencies. In 2019, the volume of insolvency filings was still only 30 percent of the volume in 2001.